New Delhi: The Oppostion BJP on Friday has said the detention of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi, wanted in the Bofors case, in Argentina, "has exposed" the UPA Government.
The BJP has alleged that the UPA sided with Quattrocchi and tried to protect him.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "We have all the documentary evidence against Quattrocchi with us. The case must be reopened."
He added that that it was the BJP which revived the case. "The Congress wanted to bury the case and give Quattrocchi a clean chit."
Javadekar pointed out that the party's Parliamentary leaders will take a decision on the issue in Parliament on February 26. He said that the Government must ensure Quattrocchi's extradition.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi says in what appears to be a face saving exercise, "We don't even know what the matter relates to. It's a legal process and has to be worked out according to legal procedures. The Congress party has nothing to do with it."
"His detention has exposed the UPA government which sided with him and tried to protect him. Now, a government is required to tell the nation why it allowed defreezing of Quattrochi's accounts abroad," BJP Chief Rajnath Singh was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
He said BJP would seek an explanation in Parliament from the Government as to why defreezing of Quattrocchi's London bank accounts were allowed as the CBI plans to seek his extradition after his detention in Argentina.
"The Government is also answerable to the nation as to where the money went from his accounts after they were defrozen. An investigation has to be launched to trace it," Rajnath Singh was further quoted as saying.
The CPI-M too has said that all efforts should be made for the extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi.
CPI-M secretary D Raja was quoted by PTI as saying that since there was no extradition treaty between India and Argentina, the Indian Government should take up the matter to have some "credibility" in the whole issue.
"If Quattrochi is innocent, he should offer himself to appear before any of the investigative agency or the court of law to prove his point, but why has he been evading the law?" he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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